October 8, 2005

Have faith in God –
And heaven’s consistory;
Have faith in God –
To face the future’s mystery;
Have faith in God –
Who breaks the seals of history.
Have faith, dear friend, in God.

"Are Ye Able?" Said the Master

Earl Bowman Marlatt, 1892-1976

    Jesus said to them. "Can you drink the cup I am going to drink?" "We can," they answered. Matthew 20:22.

    Earl Marlatt, a professor of religion at Boston University and later at Southern Methodist University, wrote this text in 1925 for a consecration service at the Boston University School of Religious Education. It was based on Christ's pointed question to His disciples in Matthew 20:22, "Can you drink the cup I am going to drink?"
    "We can," they answered.
    The hymn was originally titled Challenge. And still today, as in generations past, "heroic spirits answer, 'Lord, we are able.' "

“Are ye able,” said the Master,
“To be crucified with Me?”
“Yea,” the sturdy dreamers answered,
“To the death we follow Thee.”

Are you able to relinquish
Purple dreams of power and fame,
To go down into the Garden,
Or to die a death of shame?

Are ye able, when the anguish
Racks your mind and heart with pain,
To forgive the souls who wrong you,
Who would make your striving vain?

Are ye able to remember,
When a thief lifts up his eyes,
That his pardoned soul is worthy
Of a place in paradise?

Are ye able when the shadows
Close around you with the sod,
To believe that spirit triumphs,
To commend your soul to God?

Are ye able? Still the Master
Whispers down eternity,
And heroic spirits answer,
Now as then in Galilee.

Chorus:
Lord, we are able. Our spirits are Thine.
Remold them, make us, like Thee, divine.
Thy guiding radiance above us shall be
A beacon to God, to love and loyalty.

Have Faith in God by H.M.S. Richards, Used by Permission